MANCHESTER (NH)
Union Leader [Manchester NH]
November 3, 2025
By Dave Pierce
[See also the original lawsuit.]
A civil lawsuit accusing Manchester Bishop Peter A. Libasci of sexual abuse while he was a priest in New York in the 1980s has been dismissed.
The former altar boy who was suing Libasci died at the age of 53 in 2024.
The alleged victim filed a lawsuit in the Suffolk County (New York) Supreme Court in 2021. The man claimed Libasci, now the head of the Catholic Diocese of Manchester, had fondled and groped him on numerous occasions in 1983 and 1984 at Saints Cyril and Methodius Church and school in Deer Park, New York, where Libasci was a priest in his early 30s.
Libasci, who has denied the allegations, was not facing criminal charges. The status of the case was uncertain after his accuser’s death, according to Christian Curran, who was representing him.
On Friday, Libasci’s attorneys at Hinckley Allen in Manchester released a statement saying the case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought back to court. Curran and attorneys for the defense signed the stipulation to discontinue the case Oct. 14. Judge Leonard D. Steinman signed the order of dismissal with prejudice Oct. 15.
“The allegations in the lawsuit were false. Bishop Libasci never abused anyone. The proof revealed as much during the course of the lawsuit, and the lawsuit has been discontinued with prejudice and without Bishop Libasci paying any money,” the statement from Libasci’s attorneys said.
The lawsuit stalled in the courts in 2021 after Libasci’s former diocese filed for bankruptcy in the face of hundreds of allegations against other priests. In addition to Libasci, the defendants included Saints Cyril and Methodius Roman Catholic Church, Saints Cyril and Methodius School, its successor school, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School, and the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
Libasci allegations
The lawsuit used the phrase “sexual deviancy” to describe Libasci’s actions and referred to the possibility of previous problems with him at the Long Island parish.
“The Parish negligently or recklessly believed Abuser was fit to work with children, that any previous problems Abuser had were fixed and cured, that Abuser would not sexually molest children, and that Abuser would not injure children,” according to the lawsuit.
Libasci was appointed to the Diocese of Manchester in 2011 after serving as the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. His appointment to lead the state’s more than 250,000 Catholics drew criticism from watchdog groups and advocates for sexual assault victims.
In the two years between the time the state of New York lifted its statute of limitations on cases of child sexual abuse in 2019 and when the alleged victim filed his lawsuit in 2021, thousands of survivors came forward. More than 200 of the lawsuits alleging sexual abuse were filed against priests and others in the Rockville Centre diocese.
Libasci, 74, is still serving as bishop in Manchester.